Functional diversity amongst soil protozoa

Organismal and functional diversity of soil protozoa are reviewed and the i mportance of protozoa in soil metabolism is discussed. Existing methods of determining protozoan organismal diversity in soils are briefly listed and some of their shortcomings outlined. Feeding guilds amongst soil protozoa a re described and a preliminary classification of feeding habits of soil pro tozoa based on Pratt and Cairns (1985) system for freshwater protozoa is pr oposed. Protozoan diversity during the recovery of soil communities from se rious environmental disturbance is discussed and some proposals for the dir ection of future research are made. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.